Despite how it further blurred her visage and the very world around him, a crown titled lightly. Confusion not a foreign sentiment to etch its way across those features this night. Though this was not caused by the strange twistings of the mind but the phrases which pierced it. Why would they not tell her of her own sister? Surely there was a right to know of family, even if in passing. No reason to keep that particular portion of her memories locked away with all else she’d lost with her own affliction… unless there was something to hide. Something that may bring her to worry or fret. Relapse and fall back into the clutches of whatever illness had gripped her all those moons ago.

Though just as before such musings lay stifled, surely she had already wondered this for herself. Little need for the goat to drudge up a past she already seemed reluctant in sharing. Only small pieces divulged, enough to answer questions without giving too much of her life away. Staggered breath slipped from his lungs in what one hoped would have been a steadying sigh. Lyrics giving way to dulled thoughts, “T-that is… strange,” yet still they sought monetary gain. Funds for treatments, a cure to whatever so ailed this sister should another’s fears not be confirmed. That in the end there was no sister left to save.

He wanted to believe she lived. Wanted to trust that this would not be something any would lie over despite knowing how willing nobles - and commoners alike - were to sell their pretty lies. Anything for a step up in this world, advantage held over another. It brought those rosen hues to sink, drop all attempts at keeping focus on anything but his continued grip upon fabrics. Allowing a mind time to process, to think, no matter how hard such a task seemed to be. To take in all she said. None had been allowed to see her. They hadn’t even told her of a sibling and she did not want them to know of her remembrance.

All of it stirred question. Those that he should perhaps not ask despite how they lingered at the tip of his tongue, craving escape, dying to taint the already charged air between them. It would be foolish to press his luck, details he did not need to pry for no matter how curiosity gnawed at him. Instead fangs pressed lightly against one another, a pinch of flesh between them until conversation drifted from one sensitivity to another. Death to dealings. Those he admittedly knew very little of, merely able to grasp and assume at his father’s nature through years of living beneath this very roof.

“W-word may not r-reach him… n-not in ti-time. Dealings could b-be as… as early as t-tonight, we are in Va-Valerius’ ho-home r-right now.” Coin could exchange hands the moment a ceremony concluded, as soon as he obtained at least a portion of that mysterious accord. “If not th-then… then no la-later than a few d-days from mor-morning.” There would be little to no delay in upholding a bargain made. Promises for the man’s own gain were never something he treated lightly. Admittance that seemed to enrapture a supposed bride’s own interest. “What he wants.” That is what had been said. A fact the goat knew to be true. None of this would be happening if there wasn’t something his father wished to gain.

“Th-there always has b-been. He-he’s turned d-down other off-offers in the p-past for not being ben-bene… worthwhile t-to him,” dealings canceled before August even had to think of disrupting overheard plans. “Now a d-days he keeps me in t-the d-dark. Any dea-dealings with your f-family is for h-he alone to know.” Of course the man prattled on about preserving the family name, keeping a bloodline alive, the unnaturalness of the goat’s affections… but there had to be more to it. “He h-has his re-reasons but I’m sure it-t is greed t-that swayed him. They ha-had to have off-offered m-more than just your hand… w-what I do not know.” Something to feed the twisted games one claimed as business? Dealings that were better left unspoken for they were everything a goat wanted nothing to do with.

At least these were his assumptions for unless Valerius had fallen from his prideful perch there could be no other answer. Stooping so low as to merely cover what was seen as undesirable within his offspring… that wasn’t like him, but what did her family have to offer? What did they have to gain other than a devil’s coin? Breath shuddered with the slow shake of his head, glassy gaze attempting to recapture her own no matter how she seemed to waver within that growing fog. Only to find pause. Any further sound swiftly dying in his throat as teeth clicked sharply together and all one could do was stare.

No true placement found with each unsteady flicker. A sense of unease flooding the mind, trickling to the very air around him in what could have been placed upon budding fears. Reality itself seeming to shift, the very visage one attempted to gaze upon morphed and bubbling. A rolling mass of fangs that fought to take shape. Nothing about it resembling the exasperated, tear stricken face of the woman he'd been speaking with mere seconds ago. No... this was something more monstrous. 

Impulse bid him to draw back, to snarl in warning like the wild animal currently locked beneath flesh yet neither action would seize hold as all an unstable mind could comprehend in these moments was a twisting change. Bewilderment subduing the urge to bare wolven fangs toward this unforeseen threat. Quieted rumble never rising further than a broken sound in his chest before it too faded completely. Returning to the stuttered rhythm once held in hopes of capturing breath.

This wasn’t right. This wasn't the truth, was it? 

Where could it have come from... a beast which held her voice. Mimicked a scent so perfectly that it had not been morphed beyond recognition but now it failed to assume her form. Something else wore her skin now. Something alien. Anxieties spurred nails to bite against upholstery in silent threat of tearing into it. Frantic thoughts screaming to act, to do something but all one did was stare. Fight to make sense of it all. Pulse rushing upon a fluttering beat to fill his ears, already enlarged pupils seeming to widen in sidelong look. A more animalistic presentation. Sign toward the steadily fraying threads of control.

That voice seemed to echo sounding so near yet so far away all at once. A cacophony swimming in his ears and working to blot out all else that may hope to rise. Curved fangs flashing in silent warning no matter how the obscured shifted back and granted the spaces each desperately craved. It granted a fleeting sense of ease but it would be enough. Blown gaze slowly chasing each step as if to ensure a monstrous presence did not whirl back upon him. No signal given that her farewell had even registered yet there would be no attempt at stopping her departure. No desire to drag such a creature within reach, little want to feel the puncture of twisting flesh between teeth.

Even if he had wanted to steps would remain grounded, fixed into place. Unwilling to give chase just as he’d been upon their first encounter. Now was no different yet still those fangs would click. Snap against the air when shadows drifted from view and left the goat in silence. Nothing but stuttering breath and the rush of his pulse to fill the senses. Only for it all to be chased back in an instant as another filled the absence left behind. Familiarity in the scent, in the lyrics which drifted, the bleared visage before him almost something recognizable but with it came a sensation which felt utterly wrong.

Wolven snarl daring to rise in his throat the moment hands set upon him. If he’d had fur it would have bristled though denial to questioning cannot find him. Tongue briefly pressing between pointed fang as ears pinned with that festering uncertainty. Display harsher than he ever intended to be and yet a mind could not fully register who - or rather what - manner of beast seized hold of him. Wild gaze struggling for fixation upon morphing features, never truly resting upon her face as it darted over all which seemed to linger around the known stranger.

Temporary quiet suddenly gripped vocals. Stuttering halt as a frame wanted to jolt back at the touch which drifted into firm press against the side of his neck. It didn’t hurt. There was no piercing sear of tendrils yet instinct bid him to snap. To do something in hopes of driving back this unforeseen threat yet the debilitating haze within halted action, stunted reaction. Drowned out whatever fearful desperation wished to carry out without thought. Everything stalled by growing unsteadiness, how it took nearly everything left to simply remain upright.

In the end, overt displays nothing more than a bluff. Aggression snuffed out and in its place came submission. Breath no longer contorted upon a strangled snarl, returning to an unsteady rasp as those hands released him. A slowing process of registration taking hold as that figure shifted about the room. All she’d asked of him finally bleeding through the fog. He had tainted his drink? That is what one believed?

He hadn’t, he didn’t, not tonight. Neither drug nor toxins had been mixed by his own hand, anything consumed this night had been what another provided. Taken from a tray, the fountain. Only two… but this wasn’t something he wanted.

Maybe in the past it would have been an opportunity clung to. A thought the goat could not deny had flickered as possibility though the finality of death itself was not an option readily reached for. A last resort part of him refused to take - even with the creeping sensations that reared their heads at times. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t take that plunge for now there was something to lose. Enacting such wonderings would be worse than merely fleeing from her side. Thought which finally broke lyrical silence, “I d-didn’t.” Phrases quiet, tripped over no matter how short an utterance had been. Unknowing on if she’d even heard him at all.

Yet that command to stay resonated all too clearly. It was not one he would ignore. Besides iit wasn’t like he had anywhere to go, that he could get anywhere but here without fear of collapse. Waver spurring fingers to tighten their grip anew, keep him grounded. Keep him from lashing toward whatever entity may approach next. Yet those next moments seemed to stretch for an eternity. A nothingness once Helayne - or at least her vague likeness - had vanished in a swirl of noise. Sounds which lingered upon distant echoes.

Growing louder still until the clatter of once decorative items brought ears to turn. Dulled alert flashing in the rosen gaze which attempted to follow suite as if the situation at hand could be grasped in full. Only to stare with wild distrustful eyes until that presence was felt to near once more. Lyrics hardly a request as herbal scented concoction pressed to his lips and from an initial pass he wanted to spit it out. Push it back and ask firmly of its contents, the light twine of fingers against her wrist reaction he does not stop though one she could easily pull from should he find hold.

Concern slipping through all else that plagued his features but in the end, if the voice of one before him could be believed as truth… there was no reason she would quicken the fate another spelled out for him. She had held opportunity enough to do so before now. So despite clear reluctance the false shield of a hand would drop back to join his other and he would drink until she pulled back. Allow it to flow over his tongue with no resistance until she deemed it had been enough - even if the flavor left something to be desired. When opportunity came he would speak, “W-what was t-that?” Opinions kept to himself over it for the time.

If there had been a trace of recognition within an addled mind, regret would have budded just as quickly as snarled warning but baredly did whispered phrase reach through the fog. Racing thoughts able to fixate on nothing more than twisting visions. Oddities he knew could not be true and yet with all else which plagued him it did little to lessen reactivity. There was a chance, proclamations upon murmured breaths that this could be reality. Truths hidden away from the blind. All were beasts who sought to devour one another… especially those who let down their guard.

Possibilities a hound refused to ignore, risks a feral mind was unwilling to take while the goat merely hoped for something to ground him. A reason to cast aside this unnatural call for aggression and give in to the familiarity which radiated from a presence so near. Press aside fearful uncertainty and allow what was known to envelop flickering thoughts. Gentle lyrics were the same. Natural perfumes which danced over flesh were those taken in mere moments ago, untainted by the freshness of blood or the tangling obscenities delirium forged.

It had to be her.

No matter the visions which danced or the vile concoction that coated his tongue, instantly thinking he may choke should it be swallowed back though it glided after some reservations. This had to still be her. No other but Castiel knew where they’d tucked themselves away and the other of visual monstrosities had fled. There was no other. And in time a semblance of that recognition would return, no matter how her features lay blurred - too many to count, uncertain on just where one should look to truly behold the woman.

---

Expression soured at the lingering aftertaste, only to twist further upon the phrases grasped though nausea did not hit him straight away. Nothing settled at the back of his throat nor immediately churnced beneath it yet her tone left little room for doubt. Such sensations would surely rise despite his distaste  at the idea of it, vomiting something he’d not had to endure for some time and the idea of it certainly wasn’t one he looked forward to now. Phrases quiet in acceptance of the inevitable, “S-so long as it hel-helps.” At least it would be better than succumbing to whatever toxin laced the system.

Shaken hand rose then though this time did not reach for another as instead it hoped to shield his gaze. Casting morphed visions into darkness, merely listening to the ways Helayne moved about the room and rummaged through various belongings. HIs breath hissed lightly, fingers briefly yet harshly pressing to sockets before they’d shift to run through ombré tinted hair at the sound of reapproach. Dark lashes abandoning their veil of sight in hopes of looking to her. Uncertainty clouding his features, unknowing if a request could be heeded for he remained distrustful of his own limbs and the balance they typically offered.

Nails of an opposite hand still digging into fabric, however, gentled request rises in silent gesture as digits free themselves of entangling tresses. Phrases slurring against each other, “Gimme a h-hand?” Any touch she may offer readily accepted as August braced against a sturdier frame. Progress slower than he’d like though soon enough he found himself settling into the very sofa he’d once gripped. Though before a quiet utterance of thanks could flee his lips, her own voice rose to fill the silence as cooling cloth pressed to skin.

Lyrics stirring a greater sense of worry within, what if everyone’s had been tainted? So many had come to partake in these wretched festivities and if he were not the sole target it may cost so many others their lives. “Ho-hopefully only m-mine,” in this instance he hoped he was alone. A moment given to think over all she’d said as she disappeared upon the quiet creak of hinges, leaving the goat to silence. With a quiet breath his crown tilted against the back of the sofa, holding the rag she’d offered in its place. Jumbled thoughts racing.

Would this be reason enough to call of the arrangement? There was no way he - or any other potentially plagued - would be able to stand, let only speak in a manner deemed ‘appropriate’. And with it Augustus held no desire to see the very woman proclaimed as his betrothed, let alone linger in a presence that had twisted into monstrous displays. If others had been poisoned as well surely there would be too much of a fuss dealing with it all to bother advancing a ceremony tonight… put it off for another night if a combination of stresses did not spur a father’s temper to cancel it entirely.

He could hope.

Tongue pressed lightly between fangs as saliva was felt to pool, swallowing as if it would stave off the rising feeling he knew was to come. It was not yet at its peak though he knew not how long this concoction took to work. Until that fated time came he would still attempt to hold conversation, offer faint reassurances the moment Helayne was felt back at his side. “T-there are… some here,” tones delayed though attempted to hold on to sincerity, “He-healers that is. Two I k-know of… b-but I’m sure oth-others must have c-come.” And if they had not been encumbered as he was then they could prove helpful to any other who needed it.

Ajax was working, that man would at least be free of these afflictions. Eva had been drinking, even if her glass was not laced she had found distraction and there was a chance that the fox still held her attentions. But what of Helayne? Rosen sights hoped to find her as a frame nearly jolted upright, action swiftly regretted as a greater wave of nausea washed over him. Swiftly bidding him to relax with a grimace as the feeling refused to settle entirely. Though it did not pull hopeful focus from the woman for long as uneven tone filled the air.

“You d-didn’t have any r-right?” Fingers waving lightly as if it would explain all he wished to say before seeming to find the words lost, “N-no wine? No dr-drinks?” While he’d encountered her within the opening hours of the party, Augustus was uncertain just how long she’d been there before stumbling across her familiarity. Hours? Mere moments? While he’d not scented any wine upon those whispered breaths nor seen a glass within her hands... one could not be certain without hearing it from her own lips. If it turned out she had ingested any, it would be best if she sought her own treatment rather than remaining at his side.